Hattrick

[Helghallen]

Originally posted by ArsenalTexan3
How long does training playmaking take before player 20 and under goes up a level? I'm considering trainign playmaking now after looking at my squad.

Hattrix files says 7 weeks for PM.

And while everyone else is doing it. Please check out and give some feedback. I am planning on changing the color scheme. The blue scheme sucks. www.ht-arena.com/dynamokc

[Chris Caron]

I'm training passing through this week...then stamina for two weeks...then I'm debating training set pieces while i'm in the Open Cup then defence after that for 3 seasons. I need to stay in the cup through 5 rounds to get out of debt.

[AAGunner3]

Originally posted by kopiteinkc
Thanks to those of you that pointed me towards the ht-arena site.

I have used your advice and code and created a new look version of my site:

http://www.ht-arena.com/scousertommiesfc/

There is still more to come. But in the meantime any comments are welcome.

Looking Sharp! How about fixing that color scheme at the bottom though? :)

Training: I felt the need to do a little passing/stamina training at the end of the season, so I interrupted my regularly scheduled playmaking program. I bought some youngish PMs in need of some stamina training and trained Passing a week, stamina a week, passing a week, etc... My reason for training passing was to improve my attack finishing (I think I've already seen improvement) and to get my most skilled IM outta his disastrous passing funk. I bought the young IMs since I was going to train stamina anyway and they don't need to play to get training so... I'll be selling the last couple of them off in the next week or so after giving them a chance to make my team.

I've sold about 6-8 of my old players and am finally outta debt. And it looks like I can keep it that way. On top of that, I'll sell a couple of my least able IMs, and my stud Fwd/Def Chance Terrell. I'll be resuming my regularly scheduled PM training week 1 hoping that I'll have not fallen too far behind the #3 team in my series, as we were really close last season.

I'm going with experienced veterans in almost all of my non IM positions. We'll see how this works out. I hope they last me for about two seasons, but we'll see.

GenghisKahn
Mongrel FC 221913 USA V.188
www.ht-arena.com/mongrelfc/

[AAGunner3]

I also think I'm ready to up my YP contribution to 20K a week.

[kuhnscoot]

I'm still waiting for my youth system to pop up to excellent, hopefully it'll happen soon. And what the hell I'll do it too.

http://www.ht-arena.com/raytownrangers82
http://kuhnscoot.tripod.com

[jeremycaulfield]

I signed up for hattrick after seeing it on big soccer a few days ago, and it looks like i will finally get my team tomorrow. I was wondering if any of you could help a new player with some pointers when starting the game, and what would be the best way to make a strong foundation. thanks for the help

[MLS SupaStr3]

anyone know where i can get a logo? im not too happy with the one i have now...

[Craig P]

jeremy -- I'll try to remember to post my newbie tips tonight. In the meantime, there's a lot of good stuff upthread (in the very early pages of it, back in the days before Elwood had made it to Major League). Except for stuff relating to coaches, I'd say it's all still relevant.


I'm doing at least one week of stamina, as I have a couple of players who use playmaking whose stamina isn't where I want it to be. If I can swing the stamina training in just one week, I'll follow that up with a week of set pieces in hopes of kicking a couple of my solids up to excellent.

[Helghallen]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
I signed up for hattrick after seeing it on big soccer a few days ago, and it looks like i will finally get my team tomorrow. I was wondering if any of you could help a new player with some pointers when starting the game, and what would be the best way to make a strong foundation. thanks for the help

Being a new player myself, the most important advice I can give you is this. Read everything you can lay your hands on. The second most important advice. Don't spend any money until you have a better understanding of what it is happening.

And if you have any questions you'd like some advice on, post them here. Any number of people would be willing to give you advice.

[ArsenalTexan3]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
I signed up for hattrick after seeing it on big soccer a few days ago, and it looks like i will finally get my team tomorrow. I was wondering if any of you could help a new player with some pointers when starting the game, and what would be the best way to make a strong foundation. thanks for the help

Whats your team name and id number?

[jeremycaulfield]

my team name will be tampa bay rowdies and hopefully i will be gettting approved tomorrow so i am assuming that i get my team number then.

[Craig P]

Here's a version of my advice to new players. There's a thing that mentions "particularly if you're in division VI" -- Jeremy, you won't be, at this point in the season the GMs are filling out empty spots in division V that were created when a bunch of ownerless teams from division VI promoted.

Anyway, on to the advice: Read the rules. Pay particular attention to section 14, The Player, which tells you what skills at what positions are important to what ratings. These will be the things that you have to worry about when you set a lineup and bid on players. One thing that's not apparent from that section that you should keep in mind is that passing is a secondary skill. It contributes to attack ratings, but the primary skill (scoring for forwards, playmaking for midfielders) is more important.

Look at your players and figure out what you want to train. If you already have some good trainee candidates (19 or younger, inadequate or better in one of the primary skills i.e. keeper defending winger playmaking scoring, preferably better than $10 000 assessed value) then you should think seriously about training that skill. However, think twice about training defense -- it's slow to train, doesn't give great dividends to team performance, and requires you to use upset-prone formations.

Get a new coach. I recommend the passable training skill with poor leadership for about $80 000. For your attacking/defending/neutral, keep the strength of your team in mind. Some managers like to use the coach's attacking or defending preference to shore up a weak spot, others like to use it to enhance a strength. I'm in the "weak spot" school myself, and since I train goalkeepers (building up my defense) my coach is fond of attacking.

Fill out your trainees. Look for cheap 17-yos with at least inadequate in the skill you've decided to train. You'll need two gks, nine or ten defenders, four wingers (plus four wingbacks training at half-speed), six inner midfielders (plus four wingers training at half-speed), or six forwards, in total. You can subtract any potential trainees already on your squad from these totals.

Expand your stadium. Particularly if you're in division VI with a bunch of other new players, you'll have an immediate leg up if you consult us for advice on how to play, not to mention that some of your compatriots will abandon the game almost immediately. You can expect a fair amount of success right away, and with success will come crowds. Plus, in division VI sponsorship dollars really aren't enough to keep your economy moving. You should expand to somewhere between 12 000 and 15 000 seats, with 62.5% terraces, 25% basic seating, 10% covered seating, and 2.5% VIP seating (in total).

If you have any seed money left after the new coach, trainees, and stadium expansion, consider using it on the transfer market to fill any non-trainee holes in your team. Be very careful, it's easy to lose your head and overspend (and you'll probably still do it at least once before you have a feel for the market). Keep an eye on transfer deadlines, and if you can plan to be online at the deadline, you MAY be able to get better prices that way (but be wary of getting sucked into a bidding war).

Fire any players on your squad who aren't good team leaders (sympathetic or popular with the highest leadership skill on the squad) and don't have at least inadequate in a primary skill. Note that initially, you may still need some of these guys as backups, but even then only one or two of them. You don't need a full "B" squad, just the five subs plus one or two more for form/injury cover.

Set your lineup for your next game. If it's the midweek friendly, try to get the guys who didn't play in the league game into the lineup to maintain form. It's absolutely essential that you get the second half of your trainees in the game so they get training. If it's the league game, aim for your best possible lineup in terms of form and skill. MyBestTeam (http://www.mybestteam.org) can be a very useful tool here, particularly when you haven't really got a feel for how to play your team yet.

A word on formation (which comes into play when setting your lineup) -- the default 4-4-2 with two inner midfielders is rarely effective. 99.9% of effective teams will use three inner midfielders (by repositioning at least one player) regardless of the formation they use. Beyond that, formation is largely driven by the training regimen. Defense trainers will play four- and five-defender formations, winger trainers will play formations that don't abandon a wing, playmaking trainers will play five-midfielder formations, and scoring trainers will play a 3-4-3.


In case I wasn't absolutely clear, this is how I rate your priorities for your seed money, in order: Coach, trainees, stadium, other players. Since we're in the offseason, you may want to exercise some care in timing your expansion so that it doesn't come online until a day or two before your first home game of next season. For that purpose, figure the construction will take about ten days. You will most likely be entered in the U.S. Cup, but with a first round game away at a division VI team.

If you're worried about overspending on players, don't be afraid to ask us for market evaluations.

Welcome to Hattrick!

[Craig P]

A note about the transfer market... since it's the offseason, and everyone's gearing up to try to make a move in their series, prices are at their highest. If you can afford it, aside from picking up trainees, you might want to wait a few weeks before venturing into the market.

[kuhnscoot]

Originally posted by Helghallen
Being a new player myself, the most important advice I can give you is this. Read everything you can lay your hands on. The second most important advice. Don't spend any money until you have a better understanding of what it is happening.

And if you have any questions you'd like some advice on, post them here. Any number of people would be willing to give you advice.

This is some of the best advice, read the rules, then reread them. And ask questions, either here, or in the hattrick conferences. Those are probably the two key things.

For the way to get your team going, look at Craig's post, it gives a lot of good adivce on how to get the team started.

[Footer Phooter]

When Craig says you need 5 subs, make sure you have a full set of backups for whatever skill you are training.

[AAGunner3]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
I signed up for hattrick after seeing it on big soccer a few days ago, and it looks like i will finally get my team tomorrow. I was wondering if any of you could help a new player with some pointers when starting the game, and what would be the best way to make a strong foundation. thanks for the help

Welcome aboard. The best thing you as a newbie can do right away is sit on your money for a couple of weeks and train stamina at 100%. Your midfield/possession game demands it and frankly, your new team won't have it. This will give you time to read the rules, set up your game lineup, read the rules, set up a friendly via the challenges link, read the rules, pick our brains, read the rules, and choose a training regimen, read the rules, familiarize yourself with the interfaces and finally, read the rules.

And above all else, remember, that this is a long term game. You improve your lot in life (this game anyway) via your training of players.

[jeremycaulfield]

just wanted to say thank for all the help from all of you that wrote in. one more question...how hard is it to find teams to play a friendly against. thanks again

[Helghallen]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
just wanted to say thank for all the help from all of you that wrote in. one more question...how hard is it to find teams to play a friendly against. thanks again

Finding a friendly is not really that hard. Everyone wants to have them. My advice is this, go to the regions page and start selecting region by region. Find “online users” and then start issuing challenges to them. Once someone accepts, you’re good to go. If that doesn’t produce results, ask here.

You’ll also find people challenging you as well.

Or just wholesale challenges. Someone will be sure to accept.

[AAGunner3]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
just wanted to say thank for all the help from all of you that wrote in. one more question...how hard is it to find teams to play a friendly against. thanks again

Ask us or challenge us, we often include our team ID#'s in our posts here.

I'd suggest you challenge teams that have been around at least a couple of seasons though, if not longer. The idea being they have bigger fan clubs that will attend the friendly. And that means playing 'away' and 'cup' is a good idea too. Playing at the bigger team's arena and cup format will bring in the most amount of fans. But if you are like me, it will rain and only 50% of the potential fan club will show up.(Sigh)

[kuhnscoot]

Originally posted by jeremycaulfield
just wanted to say thank for all the help from all of you that wrote in. one more question...how hard is it to find teams to play a friendly against. thanks again

Usually it's not that hard, there are a few ways you can do this:
1) Check for teams in your region that are online when you are online, and if they haven't scheduled a friendly challenge them to one.
2) Challenge teams from your own division. This is another easy way, just click on one of the teams in your division and challenge them. Make sure they are an active team though.
3) Ask someone on here. We are usually very willing to schedule friendlies with fellow BS hattrickers, I mean I'm played Gunner and Helghallen this year, mostly scheduled them through conversations on here
4) Place a friendly ad. Down underneath the conferences link, there is a link that says ads. Go there, there is a transfer ads section and a friendly ads section. Either go there and place an ad, or click on a team that has placed an ad. Usually with international friendlies they'll do home-home, which means you'll get two weeks of friendlies taken care of.
5) Join a friendly cup. Most of these don't start until 4-5 weeks into the season, after a lot of the lower division teams have been knocked out of the Open Cup. There's been talk about doing a Big Soccer cup, but nothing has come of that yet. Check the conferences for ads on friendly cups, sometimes they offer real prizes like 3 months supporter.

Those are the main ways I can think of at the moment. Also unless you are in a friendly cup, challenge a few teams if you don't accept a challenge first. This is so that if one team you challenge doesn't accept you have a few more you can use. Also, many times random teams from around the world will challenge you to a friendly. That's another easy way to take care of it. Hope this helps.